File transfer speed comparison: USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C and USB3.1 Gen2 Type-A

I've got USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C to Type-A adapter Sanwa supply AD-USB29CFA (Fig.1).

Fig.1: AD-USB29CFA.

Attach it to USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-C storage device and tested CrystalDiskMark.

Computer:
AMD Threadripper 2990WX
Asus Zenith Extreme, Firmware 1601

USB Mass Storage Device:
ENCU3NV-JO1 M.2 to USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C converter.
Samsung 970 Pro 512GB M.2 NVMe SSD inside.


NTFS formatted, NTFS Allocation unit size=64KB.

Fig.2:  ENCU3NV-JO1 M.2 to USB3.1 Gen2 Type-C converter.

Motherboard backpanel USB3.1Gen2 ports are used to connect USB mass storage device (Fig.3).

Fig.3:  USB ports used. SS10 marked, magenta colored. Upper port is Type-A and lower port is Type-C. Both USB 3.1 Gen2 (SuperSpeed+ 10Gbps) ports.

Fig.4: WWShowUsbDeviceTree shows USB storage connected to Type-C port as "TypeC". magenta line means this device is linked at SuperSpeed+.














Fig.5: WWShowUsbDeviceTree shows "TypeA" on USB storage connected to Type-A port using AD-USB29CFA. magenta line means this device is linked at SuperSpeed+.

CrystalDiskMark Results

Fig.6: CrystalDiskMark result of Type-C port.

Fig.7: CrystalDiskMark result of Type-A port.

Fig.8: Comparison graph.

 

Conclusion

There is no significant speed difference between Type-C USB3.1Gen2 port and Type-A USB3.1Gen2 port. Both works at SuperSpeed+ speed.

It is confirmed that AD-USB29CFA is USB3.1Gen2 SuperSpeed+ capable adapter. It is Recommended.

File transfer speed comparison: USB 3.1 Gen2 and USB3.1 Gen1

File transfer performance measurement and comparison of USB 3.1 Gen2 and Gen1 performance using ENCU3NV-JO1, M.2 M-Key to USB 3.1 Gen2 adapter.

Figure 1 : ENCU3NV-JO1 with USB Type-C SuperSpeed 10Gbps certified cable. Enclosure has USB Type-C receptacle. Bus powered device. The USB-C SuperSpeed 10Gbps certified cable photographed is found on my gadget bin, perhaps sold separately.

Figure 2 : ASUS Zenith Extreme motherboard have several USB ports. Ports with SS10 marking have a capability to perform SuperSpeed 10Gbps transfer. Ports with SS marking is up to SuperSpeed (it is 5Gbps).

Experiment 1 : USB 3.1 Gen2 connection

Figure 3 : WWShowUsbDeviceTree shows the M.2 to USB adapter. It is connected to the PC USB Type-C port using Type-C to Type-C cable showed on Fig.1. It is correctly linked as SuperSpeed 10Gbps speed

Figure 4 : CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2 result. Performance number is reasonably good for USB3.1 Gen2 device. AMD TR 2990WX, Asus Zenith Extreme. It seems the USB host controller is ASM3142.

Figure 5 :  CrystalDiskMark 5.5.0 result. Different computer with ASM3142 USB host controller, Intel 8700K, Asus ROG Strix z370-i. ENCU3NV-JO1 's performance number is very good for USB3.1 Gen2 device.

 

Experiment 2 : USB 3.1 Gen1 connection

Figure 6 : Next,  the adapter is connected to SS marked port using Type-C to Type-A connector. It is linked with SuperSpeed (5Gbps).

Figure 7 : CrystalDiskMark 6.0.2 result. Performance number is reasonably good for USB3.1 Gen1 device but it is significantly slower than Gen2 (Fig. 4 and Fig.7).

Conclusion and thoughts

M.2 M-Key to USB 3.1 Gen2 adapter performs better with SuperSpeed 10Gbps connection than SuperSpeed.

SuperSpeed is reasonably fast. SuperSpeed 10Gbps speed gain may become more obvious with large file copy. I think this enclosure is suitable for video editing file exchange. In order to maximize the performance of this M.2 to USB3.1Gen2 enclosure, it is better to use high performance SSD, because inexpensive SSDs performance plummets when larger file is copied. Also it may be  better to attach heatsink to the metal enclosure to prevent thermal throttling.